You are here

Harvard Grad Starts Math Museum Helped by Google

November 5, 2011

“I started this museum because I wanted people to have a chance to see the beauty, excitement and wonder of mathematics,” said Glenn Whitney, executive director of the Museum of Mathematics, in a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeekarticle about the museum’s 2012 opening.

“While going through school, math wasn’t something that excited me,” said Whitney in the article. “Kids are told, ‘Here’s something you’ve got to learn for this test, and you’ll never need it again.’”

Whitney, a former algorithm manager at Renaissance Technologies, says his interactive museum will especially target children in grades 4 through 8, but he hopes parents and adults become involved as well.

Whitney has raised about $22 million from some 300 donors including a $2 million grant from Google Inc.